More George Hill, Jeff Green could be on the way for the Cleveland Cavaliers

More minutes for Cleveland Cavaliers point guard George Hill and power forward Jeff Green may be on the way.

It’s interesting that with all of the change to the starting lineup, the Cleveland Cavaliers only made three more threes in Game 2 than they made in Game 1.

A lot of that change seemed to have to do with Korver going 4-8 from three (rather than 0-2) and James going 2-5 from three (after going 0-4 in Game 1).

When considering the Cavaliers scoring 100 points in Game 2 after scoring 80 points in Game 1, it’s easy to wonder whether the boost was from players hitting shots they’d normally make or James scoring 22 more points than he did in Game 2 (24 points in Game 1 and 46 points in Game 2).

Of course, there’s a lot to be said of Korver playing 27 more minutes (4 minutes in Game 1 and 31 minutes in Game 2) and taking six more three-point attempts (2 threes in Game 1 and 8 threes in Game 2) in his second game, as the Cavaliers have always expertly taken advantage of Korver’s shot-making prowess and gravity on the perimeter.

Korver just makes winning plays and makes the offense run smoother for the Cavaliers. Smith has come around strong lately and they same could be strong of him as well; it seems Smith always comes to play in the postseason).

However, there were significant issues to be addressed with this lineup.

While they did well defensively in holding the Pacers to under 100 points (for the second straight game), the Pacers shot 52.6 percent from the field, outrebounded the Cavaliers 36-30 and outscored them 62-30 in the paint, it would seem as if the interior defense is particularly soft with this five-man unit.

The usual culprit in poor rim-protection, Love, was culpable:

However, James wasn’t great help as a rim-protector either:

Those issues apparent, center Larry Nance Jr. would play 24 minutes, the most of any player on the bench. He played 30 minutes in Game 1 and has had a block in each game.

With minutes that would have went to Green, a 6-foot-9 forward, going to the Smith, a 6-foot-6 guard, it’s no wonder that the Cavaliers were so heavily outscored in the paint. Green is no rim-protector but, according to Nylon Calculus’ Krishna Narsu’s data set (compiled from NBA.com’s defensive matchup data) Green guards every position at least 10.0 percent of the time. Not even LeBron does that.

Some data sets, which use a HHI formula, have Green ranked as the most versatile player in the NBA on the defensive end.

Finding the balance between size and spacing will be crucial for the Cavaliers, as they’ve given up 17.0 points per game to Pacers center Myles Turner on 61.9 percent shooting in the series and each of Victor Oladipo (27.0 points per game on 54.1 percent shooting from the field), Lance Stephenson (11.0 points per game on 50.0 percent shooting from the field) and Thaddeus Young (7.5 points per game on 70.0 percent shooting from the field) have decimated the Cavaliers while only scoring a combined 33 of their 125 total points from outside-the-arc. As a team, the Pacers ave shot 49.0 percent from the field across the first two games of the series.

They’re shooting 34.0 percent from three-point range but considering that the Pacers ranked in the bottom-five of NBA teams in three-point conversions (9.0) and three-point attempts (24.5) in the regular season, the three-ball isn’t what they’re leaning on to win.

That said, stopping Turner and Oladipo from getting whatever want from outside is paramount on the defensive end.

More Jeff Green

While Nance is sure to keep getting heavy minutes in the frontcourt, the Cavs could opt to increase Green’s minutes in Game 3. That’s especially true with Love tearing a ligament in his left thumb in Game 2 (he’s expect to play through the injury).

In Game 1, Turner was 2-2 from the field when guarded by Nance and 2-3 from the field when guarded by Love. He was 2-4 from the field when guarded by Green.

In Game 2, Turner went 3-6 from the field when guarded by Love. He was 1-2 from the field when guarded by Nance and 1-2 from the field when guarded by Hill. He was 1-1 from the field when guarded by James and 1-1 from the field when guarded by Korver.

More George Hill

In stopping players on the perimeter, perhaps more minutes for Hill are in store as Hill has had the most success stopping Oladipo.

According to NBA.com’s defensive matchup data, Oladipo went 1-4 from the field when defended by Hill in Game 1 (who matched up with him on 26.1 percent of his possessions, second-highest among Cavs behind J.R. Smith) but made at least 50.0 percent of his shots against all other defenders. Oladipo was 0-1 from the field when guarded by Jordan Clarkson and 0-1 from the field when guarded by James as well.

In Game 2, Oladipo went 3-6 from the field when guarded by Hood, 3-5 from the field when guarded by James, 2-4 from the field when guarded by Smith, 1-2 from the field when guarded by Green and 0-1 from the field when guarded by Korver.

While the starting lineup does come out with a bang, Green and Nance play a major defensive role in the frontcourt.

This, along with Love’s need to heal his thumb, may result in a bit less playing time for Love in favor of Green in Game 3.

Hill will need play a major defensive role in the backcourt. As a result, the minutes of Jose Calderon could come down in Game 3 as well.

Related Story: Should Cavs start games with defense over offense?

*Unless otherwise referenced, stats gathered from www.basketball-reference.com